Establishes minimum bond amounts for certain offenses. (8/1/26)

Senate Bill 93 amends the Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure to establish statutory minimum bail amounts for two specific offenses related to child sexual abuse materials. The bill adds Article 315(D) to the Code of Criminal Procedure, which requires that both district courts implementing bail schedules and courts operating without schedules must impose minimum bail amounts of fifty thousand dollars for possession of child sexual abuse materials under R.S. 14:81.1 and one hundred thousand dollars for production of child sexual abuse materials under the same statute. The bill simultaneously amends Article 319(A) to clarify that when courts modify bail amounts, they remain subject to any minimum amounts established by law, preventing judges from reducing bail below these newly established statutory minimums even when they find good cause to modify bail under existing procedures.

The practical effect of this legislation is to remove judicial discretion in setting bail for these two offenses below the specified thresholds. District court judges, whether they use bail schedules or make individualized bail determinations, cannot approve bail undertakings for possession of child sexual abuse materials below fifty thousand dollars or for production of such materials below one hundred thousand dollars. This applies regardless of the defendant's circumstances, prior criminal history, ties to the community, or employment status. Bail bondsmen and bail undertaking services will need to adjust their practices to comply with these mandatory minimums, and defendants charged with these offenses will face significantly higher financial barriers to pretrial release compared to most other felony offenses.

The bill operates within Louisiana's existing bail framework established in the Code of Criminal Procedure, which has long permitted district courts to implement bail schedules in noncapital felony cases while preserving judicial authority to increase or reduce scheduled amounts upon motion and for good cause. Senate Bill 93 carves out an exception to the modification authority by establishing floors below which bail cannot be set, similar to how other jurisdictions use statutory bail minimums for serious offenses. The legislation becomes effective August 1, 2026, and does not alter the substantive criminal law defining these offenses but rather affects only the pretrial release procedures in criminal prosecutions.